Title

Do They (We) Know?

Scripture
I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
(Isaiah 13:11)
Devotional
Do the wicked know they are wicked? Do the arrogant, haughty and proud know that they are? Romans 1:21 might have the answer: “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” A darkened heart cannot see the foolishness of its ways. These traits that demand punishment are in all of us, but require cultivating to germinate and infest the fields of our hearts, minds and souls. When they mature, they choke out their antitheses: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”(1) How dreadful it would be to know God, but have our hearts darkened because of the futility of our thoughts and the unthankfulness of our beings. All we can do is call on the goodness and mercy of God, that He would grace us by showing us the error of our ways. Lord have mercy.


(1) Galatians 5:22-23
Text For The Day
Isaiah 13:11: “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”
Thought For The Day
“Don’t neglect your critical faculties. Remember that God is a rational God, who has made us in his own image. God invites and expects us to explore his double revelation, in nature and Scripture, with the minds he has given us, and to go on in the development of a Christian mind to apply his marvelous revealed truth to every aspect of the modern and the postmodern world.” Author John Stott, renowned: clergyman, author, pastor, evangelist, etc. 
Questions To Ponder
Morning Study Guide
Defining:  “Ignorance”:     “Absence or destitution of knowledge; the negative state of the mind which has not been instructed...  Ignorance of the law does not excuse a man for violating it,” Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.
 
Referencing: “Gird up the loins of your mind… as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy…,” 1 Peter 1:13-16.
 
Applying: It is one thing not to know and not know that you don’t know; that is ignorance. It is another thing not to know and not care that you don’t know; that is foolishness. Therefore, learn as much as you can.